I am thankful March 2026 was much different than March 2025, when I was in the hospital for a blood clot in my kidney. I’m doing fine now, and I reflected more on that in my birthday post. March started with some fly tying and catching my first trout of the season with snow on…

January was a cold, snowy month. We had three snowstorms this month and average temperatures well below freezing, sometimes dipping into the negatives overnight. This is the coldest, snowiest January we’ve had since moving to Peekskill in 2019. Beginning of January: Mid-January: End of January: We’ve spent a lot of evenings snuggled on the couch…

December was all about the holidays. We started the month by getting rid of the Thanksgiving decorations. Charlie wanted to run them over with the car, so we did. We set up the Christmas Tree in stages. First the tree + train, then the lights and ornaments Amanda and I prefer, then Charlie’s additional ornament…

Short work week, long holiday week. On Monday after work and school, Charlie and I took apart my Shopsmith quill to figure out exactly which parts we needed to track down, since I’m pretty sure I’ll never get that replacement quill from Shopsmith. I filed a credit card dispute and ordered some secondhand parts. More…

With my shifted work schedule (now 7am-3pm), Charlie getting home earlier, increased work stress, and needing weekends to put our lives back together and get ready for the following week, the last couple months have felt pretty busy and my weekly blogging hasn’t made the cut. My regular time for writing this weekly post has…

I’m writing this from bed, sipping some Sleepytime tea and listening to the wind and rain from the tropical storm hitting the northeast. Days and weeks have been going by so quickly. Is this turning into a biweekly post? I’m not sure. My 7am-3pm schedule has its ups and downs. I’m going to bed earlier…

As you can tell, I’m having trouble getting to these weekly posts right now. I’m going to have to change the timing, I think. Sundays have been filled with shopping, cleaning, and meal prep. I’m writing this post while our breakfast for the week finishes cooking. The transition to Charlie’s new school (mixed age 4…

I went into this blogging breaking thinking I’d just skip a week while my parents were visiting, then it turned into over a month. The first week we were focused on getting ready for Charlie’s birthday party, which turned out great. We put up a 20×20 tent since it rained unexpectedly the last couple years,…

Mostly photos with a little bit of commentary this week. Trying to get outside when we can, though it has been a week of heat, humidity, and haze. More of all three on the way this coming week, too. Daddy, I’m having fun playing catch! Quotes like that, unprompted, will melt your heart. Sometimes I…

It has been a hot week and we are all pretty tired. The main things to report on Monday and Tuesday are that I feel like we had a couple pretty good days with Charlie. Fun playing outside with the hose and on his slide fort, watching a movie together on the projector in the…

I am settling back into our regular work & school, dinner, and bedtime weekday routine, so these updates are less interesting than the last couple months. We got our car back on Wednesday. The problem was the coolant valve, which needed to be replaced. Thankfully it was covered under warranty. It was a hot, humid,…

I’m officially back to work after my sabbatical. On Monday, my final day of sabbatical, Jeremy Wall and I paddled up the Croton River from the Echo launch at the train station up to Fireman’s Island, which is about the farthest you can get without carrying your boat. Beautiful day and the water was ice…

As I write this, I’m sitting on the deck sipping a grapefruit IPA from Captain Lawrence, as the sun sets, the fireflies come out, and cooler air floats in. Charlie fell asleep early tonight, while I was out on the round platform swing, and we were able to carry him in and successfully transfer him…

Posting a double header edition because I was sick from Friday-Wednesday last week with what I originally thought was food poisoning, but as it prolonged and got worse I decided was probably norovirus. It was rough. Thankfully Amanda and Charlie didn’t get it. Today is our twelfth wedding anniversary! 💍 🍾 I’m not sure I’ve…

Charlie and I spent M-F camping with my parents at Bald Eagle State Park in PA. We cruised around the lake and went swimming in the chilly water. Charlie loves playing in water! We sat around the campfire and ate s’mores. We drove all over the PA Wilds searching for elk. Did you know PA…

This post format is feeling a bit stale, but not sure what to do about it. Comment or email me if you have suggestions! Since we had friends over for a cookout the day before, we took it easy on Memorial Day and hung around the house, mostly playing in the yard with Charlie. We…

Monday I cleaned and sorted through the Shopsmith parts I picked up from the estate sale two weeks ago. I found the right combination of parts to finally have a safe table saw setup and use a standard 5/8″ arbor instead of the Shopsmith 1″ arbor. I am pretty stoked about that! I also hung…

I spent M-F this week fly fishing in the Catskills. I primarily fished small streams in search of native brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis. I’m happy to report that I found some great spots and caught 61 brook trout over the course of the week, along with 7 wild brown trout and 1 rainbow. I caught…

Happy Mother’s Day! Monday I kept Charlie home from pre-k and took him to tour the Clearwater. They had a special event for 2-4 year olds! It was fun, despite the rain. Charlie got to help push the tiller, see some real catfish and hog chokers, and explore the deck. We also stopped at Rossi…